Modi-Obama Meet: ‘Pressure On Govts To Tackle Climate Change’
NEW DELHI: In a day replete with goodwill symbolism, climate change became one of the key focus areas as US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi emerged from their first bilateral meet in New Delhi. Addressing the news media, both the leaders said they had worked on a series of bilateral agreements in one-on-one talks on Sunday.
In a joint statement with President Obama, PM Modi said, “Climate change and global warming are big pressures and for all those who think about a better life and a better world, it is their duty and in their conscience to give a better lifestyle and better environment to future generations. The pressure is on for all governments and all people.”
Emphasizing that India and US were working together on climate change, President Obama said, “We took important steps today to support clean energy and climate change. We support India’s ambitious role for solar energy, launching new projects to improve air quality in Indian cities.”
Though India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesman was non-committal, saying “we hope for a positive outcome at the end of the day”, the two leaders reportedly discussed agreements on climate change, renewable energy, taxation and defence co-operation.
Obama will be looking for India to make some kind of binding emission commitments, but given India’s energy deficit, and its dependence on coal to power GDP growth, it is unclear how much more the Modi government can do to decrease carbon emissions.
